Monthly Archives: May 2018

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1959 GSM Dart

This site has been around for about six and a half years. Not an eternity, but a decent amount of time. In that time, this is just the second GSM-branded car we’ve come across for sale that fit into our schedule. The first one? One week ago exactly.

This sudden flood of GSM cars to market is really strange as Glass Sport Motors of Cape Town, South Africa, didn’t really build that many cars in the six years they existed between 1958 and 1964. The GSM Dart was South Africa’s first production fiberglass automobile.

Power sources varied as donor cars were usually needed. This is one of just three Darts lucky enough to feature Alfa Romeo four-cylinder engines. The Dart was called the Delta when it was exported (thanks, Daimler). Just 122 examples of the Dart were sold and this one was once exhibited at the Petersen Museum. You can see more here and see more from this sale here.

1910 Panhard et Levassor Type X7 Landaulette by Rothschild

Offered by Bonhams | Greenwich, Connecticut | June 3, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Knowing that this car was sold new in New York City really allows you to picture it on the street in its heyday. This is the type of car you see Gilded Age robber barons stepping from in jumpy, grainy black and white newsreel footage. It’s a large car from what was then one of Europe’s oldest and grandest automakers.

The X7 was part of Panhard’s 20 horsepower model line that lasted from 1910 through 1915 (as were the U9, X9, and X14). These were big, expensive cars and not many were produced. Production for this series totaled just 1,288 units.

The engine is a 4.4-liter, Knight sleeve-valve straight-four making approximately 25 horsepower. The ownership history of this car is known to the 1960s when it was equipped with a Touring car body. During a restoration sometime after the 1960s, this Landaulette body was re-installed. The current owner had the interior redone at a much later date. This car is a driver and would be welcomed at most shows. It should bring between $75,000-$95,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

1958 Aston Martin DB Mk III Drophead Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Reading, U.K. | June 2, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Aston Martin’s model history is pretty straightforward, especially concerning their grand touring cars. Going backward in time, we have the current DB11, the concept-only DB10, the DB9, (strangely no DB8), the beautiful DB7, the DB6, DB5, DB4… and then it gets weird. There was a DB1 and a DB2. But then there was a DB2/4, an evolution of the DB2 that ultimately evolved into this, the DB Mk III. No DB3, though. Got it? Good.

The DB Mk III was updated version of the DB2/4 and it went on sale in 1957 and was available through 1959. The standard powertrain was a 2.9-liter straight-six good for 162 horsepower. This car carries a rare DBD high-output engine that creates 195 horsepower. Only 551 examples of this model were produced and most of those were two-door saloons. Only 85 were Drophead Coupe convertibles and only 14 of those have the 195 horse engine.

This was the first Aston production car to sport their signature grille that their cars still carry today. The body design was by Tickford, who was also responsible for the convertible variant.

This example has known ownership history since new. It spent much of the 1990s being overhauled but the most recent major renovations took place in 2006 and 2007. The current owner acquired the car in 2011. It shows just over 65,000 miles. A beauty and a rarity, this elegant Aston should command between $400,000-$470,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

1910 National Model 50 Series S Semi-Racing Roadster

Offered by Bonhams | Greenwich, Connecticut | June 3, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

National is a brand closely linked with racing, specifically the Indianapolis 500. National was founded by L.S. Dow and Philip Goetz to produce electric cars. They eventually switched to gasoline-powered cars, a new direction pushed for by eventual company president Arthur C. Newby, who would go on to co-found the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

National won a lot of races prior to 1910 and even won the 1912 Indy 500. This is a 1910 Model 50 and it’s powered by a massive 8.1-liter straight-four rated at 50 horsepower. The 50 horsepower four was first introduced in 1907 and 1910 would be the car’s final year. It was National’s mid-level model and was sold mainly as a seven-passenger touring car.

This car is a two-passenger racing car. It’s unclear if this is the original style, but likely not as the history of this car isn’t really known prior to the 1990s when it was restored to as you see here. It’s been on museum duty for 15 years but has seen some limited use in tours and rallies. It’s truly an awesome piece and if you’ve ever seen one of these old National race cars in person, you’d remember it. They’re quite impressive. This one should bring between $125,000-$150,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

We’ll start with one from April: Worldwide Auctioneers in Houston, Texas. The one car we featured, the Ford Prodigy Prototype, sold for $2,200. The top sale was this 1965 Shelby GT350 that brought $363,000. Click here for full results.

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

Osenat held a sale on May 1st and there was a collection of Bugattis that crossed the block. This Bugatti, a 1925 Type 35B, sold for $625,084 – the most of any car at the sale.

Off to Monaco where there were three sales this year. The first was from Bonhams and the ex-Aryton Senna McLaren Formula 1 car was the top seller going for $5,009,296. The other ex-Senna F1 car, the Toleman TG184 brought $1,921,374. The two Ferraris we featured, the 625 TF and the F1/87, both failed to sell. We’ll award most-interesting to this 1955 Jaguar XK140 SE with a special one-off body by Michelotti.

Photo – Bonhams

It was essentially a barn find project. They had an estimate of around $50,000 on this car and it blew that out of the water, selling for charity at $425,447. Well sold! Click here for more results from this sale.

Our biggest dollar feature car was the Benetton B192 that brought $960,929 (the sales numbers from this sale are all estimates as I’m doing currency conversion a week late. Sorry. I went on vacation). The other F1 car from this sale, the Jordan 199, brought $284,447. The Ferrari Sergio would’ve been the biggest dollar car here, but it failed to sell. As did the Gilco. Another Ferrari, our previously-featured 328 Conciso, sold here for $128,811. Click here for more results.

Keeping with the Ferrari theme, Silverstone Auctions held an all-Ferrari sale the day before their May Sale. We featured a 550 Barchetta and it’s been listed as “Result to Follow” for a week now, so we’re calling it “maybe sold maybe not but we’ve got to ‘go to press,’ as it were.” Otherwise, the top seller was this 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona for $721,929. Check out complete results here.

1906 Ford Model K Tourer

Offered by Bonhams | Hillegom, Netherlands | June 23, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Not too long ago we chronicled the reasons as to why Henry Ford built a massive touring car before the everyman’s Model T went on sale in 1909. Basically: his investors wanted a luxury car. And so Ford obliged. Between 1906 and 1908, the quite large Model K was sold.

It was available as a two-door, four-passenger Touring or apparently as a Roadster. It was the first six-cylinder Ford (and the only one they’d offer until 1941). That six is a 6.6-liter straight-six good for 40 horsepower. In 1906, the Model K cost $2,500. This was the most expensive product – by a good margin – that Ford had offered up to that point. The ’06 model line consisted of the entry-level Model N and the upscale Model K with the Model F floating somewhere in the middle.

This well-restored Tourer is being offered out of a museum and is a beautiful example of an early, large Ford. It’s expected to bring between $270,000-$400,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

1961 GSM Delta

Offered by H&H Classics | Epsom, U.K. | June 5, 2018

Photo – H&H Classics

Bob van Niekerk and Willie Meissner founded the Glassport Motor Company in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1958. Fiberglass sports cars had been on sale in the U.S. and U.K. for a few years by this point, but Niekerk and Meissner decided to open the doors for such cars for the South African market.

Their first car was called the Dart. It was a sporty little roadster with an optional hardtop. It was a good enough car that the British took note and GSM began exporting them to the U.K. (or assembling them in England). The problem was that Daimler already sort of had the whole “Dart” thing cornered, so GSM called the export cars the Delta. And that’s what we have here.

GSM didn’t build their own engines, instead based the Dart/Delta around other cars. This car originally had a 1.0-liter engine but now sports a 1.5-liter straight-four. Production records are sketchy, but it is thought that 122 Darts were built as well as 76 Deltas. Restored a while ago, this car shows well and should bring between $24,000-$30,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

1942 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hampton, New Hampshire | June 23-24, 2018

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

It all changed for Lincoln in 1940. They were among the first to really move into the “modern” era of automobiles. The Model K that dated to 1931 was out of production and the Lincoln-Zephyr and Continental were on sale. These were clean, modern-looking designs and the Continental was just stellar.

In December of 1941, everything changed. America was at war and automobile production was about be put on hold for years. Very few 1942 model year cars were built in the U.S. The 1942 Continental was the rarest of the pre-war Continentals with just 136 Cabriolets and 200 Coupes built.

All were powered by a 4.8-liter V-12 that made 130 horsepower. The restoration on this car is described as “older” but “well-preserved.” It’s known to have been part of quite a few collections over the years and comes out of the Dingman Collection after only about 18 months as a part of it. See more about this car here and more about this collection here.

1914 Lozier Model 77 Five-Passenger Touring

Offered by Bonhams | Greenwich, Connecticut | June 3, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Henry Lozier made his money in sewing machines and bicycles. In 1900 he moved to Plattsburgh, New York, and decided to get into the automobile business. Unfortunately he died in 1903, but his son, Harry, took over and the first Lozier cars were on the road in 1905. They built some of the most expensive cars in the U.S. at the time.

The Model 77 was built in 1913 and 1914. The 1914 model was Lozier’s “big” car and came equipped with a 6.4-liter straight-six rated at 36 horsepower. Five body styles were offered from the factory and the five-passenger Touring was the cheapest (along with the two-passenger Runabout) at a whopping $3,250. A Model T Touring from the same year was $550.

This car was once owned by the grandson of Harry Lozier. Restored prior to going on display at the Champlain Valley Transportation Museum in Plattsburgh in 2006, this Lozier Touring is being offered from that museum. Lozier only lasted through 1918 and it’s thought that only 30 Lozier cars survive in total. This one should bring between $300,000-$400,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Two Shelby Prototypes

Offered by Bonhams | Greenwich, Connecticut | June 3, 2018

1997 Shelby Aurora V-8 Can-Am

Photo – Bonhams

The Shelby Can-Am was a racing series that used purpose-built race cars from Carroll Shelby. All cars were identical and powered by 255 horsepower V-6 engines. The series – which was open to amateurs – ran from 1991 through 1996 in the U.S.

Originally, Shelby wanted to offer a bigger, badder version of the car. He only built one prototype – and this is it. It’s powered by the then-popular 4.0-liter Oldsmobile Aurora V-8. It was tuned to make 500 horsepower and was the same engine used in the Series 1 sports car. This is the only example built and it ran some test laps at Willow Springs but otherwise has been sitting in Ol’ Shel’s personal collection since. This would be a fun track day toy for someone and it should cost them between $20,000-$25,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $100,800.

1983 Dodge Shelby Ram Prototype

Photo – Bonhams

The first generation of the Dodge Ram was produced from 1981 through 1993. The beginning of production coincided time-wise with Chrysler’s relationship with Carroll Shelby. You might think it’s weird to have Shelby’s name on a truck, but hey, he built a Dakota and a Durango.

This one-off Ram was partly a styling exercise (to mimic the styling of the recently introduced Shelby Charger). But because Shelby couldn’t help himself, the motor was spruced up as well: it’s a 300 horsepower, 5.9-liter V-8. It’s a pretty decked out truck all around. This is coming from Carroll’s personal collection where he maintained this 11,000 mile truck since new. It should sell for between $10,000-$15,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.